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A RADICAL CURE 



FOR THE 



Swarming Hahit of Bees 



HENRY JONES, M. D, 

w 

.". Author .'. 
PRESTON, MINlNESOTA, 



PRICE PER COPY $1.00 

Copyrigt, 1909, By Henry Jones, M. I 



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SEP 7 9 



A EALiCAL CURE FOR THE SWARMING 
HABIT OF BEES. 

The one essential in bee-keeping is results. In 
this practical age the aim of every progressive bee- 
keeper is to obtain the greatest results with the least 
expenditure of time and labor. 

While some may engage in apiculture for recrea- 
tion or a love of the pursuit, without regard to pecun- 
iary returns, the great rank and file are so situated 
that they of necessity must look at the matter from a 
dollar and cent point of view. "How to Reduce the 
v Cost of Honey Production to a Minimum," is the goal 
which they are seeking. 

All short cuts in bee-keeping and all plans to abol- 
ish unnecessary manipulation are receiving the 
thoughtful attention of all up-to-date bee-keepers. 
Much has been accomplished along these lines in the 
i past and yet there is an urgent demand for better and 
simpler methods than are now employed. Bee-keepers 
like the rest of humanity often spend a great deal of 
. time and labor to accomplish a very little thing. Need- 
less manipulation has a money value, whether per- 
formed by yourself or someone else, and adds to the 
cost of production. In no subject relating to apicul- 
ture does this apply more strongly than it does to the 
swarming problem. Natural swarming as practiced by 
our grandfathers, has no place in modern bee-keeping. 
., The methods advocated today are far ahead of natural 
swarming, yet none of them give total satisfaction. 
Numerous and varied are the plans of swarm-control 
— that do not control. Systems that do not prevent. 
There is an element of uncertainty and unreliability 
about each and every method heretofore recommend- 
ed. Some of them call for costly hives and fixtures, 
some for an endless amount of manipulation, and some 
require all the skill of a trained expert to carry them 
into execution. None are infallible. What the bee- 



keeping world is watching and waiting for is some 
better plan, — some simple, sure and reliable method 
that will prevent swarming at all times and under all 
circumstances. Is there, or can there be, any manage- 
ment, any process or treatment, that will fulfill these 
requirements? The answer expected would be "No." 
The good old orthodox ways appeal strongly to the 
great majority of bee-keepers, and it seems a difficult 
thing for them to cut loose from the old methods that 
have the sanction of antiquity. The myths, fables and 
superstitions concerning bees — the heritage of our an- 
cestors — still clings to us with a strange persistency, 
and nearly every advance in bee-keeping has had to 
encounter the whims, prejudices and conservatism of 
the masses. In this day of progress and discovery is 
it safe to deny anything? Many of the unsolved enig- 
mas of the past are being solved today, and why 
should the non-swarming riddle remain without solu- 
tion. Now, brother and sister bee-keepers, it may cause 
you some surprise and it may awaken within you some 
skepticism when I make the bold broad statement 
that I can outline a method of treatment that will cure 
the swarming feature every time and all the time. It 
will w r ork wherever bees can as it is founded upon an 
instinct of the bee which is infallible. The treatment 
will cure the "swarming impulse" if already acquired, 
or, if given before the bees think of swarming, will 
prevent swarm preparation. It is either a preventative 
measure or a curative measure, depending upon the 
time of giving treatment. It will and absolutely does 
prevent all swarming at all times and under all cir- 
cumstances notwithstanding that old legend that 
"Bees Do Nothing Invariably." 

Not wishing to tax your credulity to the breaking 
point, nor wishing you to think these lines penned in 
a spirit of egotism, I will desist from any further pre- 
liminary statements and outline the plan which I have 
followed for the four years past. 

"Use all the well known methods early in the 



spring to get the colonies strong in bees before the 
honey flow is on. Then when the hives are full to 
overflowing with bees and you have all the force 
you want — all the bees needed to gather the harvest 
— go to these mamouth colonies, open the hives, and 
with the uncapping knife or some other sharp in- 
strument uncap all the sealed brood you find except 
two frames of the sealed brood in each hive which 
you leave undisturbed. The two frames of hatching 
brood will keep up the strength of the colony during 
the honey flow. Any time within fifteen days give 
a second treatment, the same as the first, if you find 
any colonies making preparations to swarm. This 
treatment will prevent all swarming and enable the 
bee-keeper to keep his whole force of workers to- 
gether during the honey harvest. The bees at once 
begin to drag out the headless brood and scatter 
them far and wide, and in from twelve to twenty- 
four hours every vestige of brood operated upon will 
be removed from the hive. The bees will polish up 
the cells from which they have removed the dead 
brood and the queen will begin laying in them at 
once instead of the bees plugging them full of honey 
as might be expected. The bees start to work at 
once with all the vim and energy of a prime swarm 
without any further attempt to swarm out. It is 
simply wonderful how r quickly a hive full of loafers 
can be transformed into the most energetic work- 



ers." 



Now let us see what the advantages of this 
method are as compared with the methods previously 
published. ist. It starts the bees to work immedi- 
ately and there will be no loafing, sulking or abscond- 
ing of swarms, as so frequently happens with shook 
swarming or other well known methods of swarm con- 
trol. 2nd. It represents the saving of an endless 
amount of labor as compared with other methods. Five 
to ten minutes is ample time for the first operation 
and still less if a second is needed. The bees of that 



colony arc then effectually cured of all swarm prepar- 
ations for that season. As a time-saver it is without 
a parallel in bee-keeping. Manipulation takes time 
and has a money value to the bee-keeper. It takes an 
enormous amount of time to carry out some of the 
non-swarming systems, and when handling colonies 
by the hundred it takes a large share of the honey 
crop to pay for the time spent in useless manipulation. 
3rd. The treatment is especially adapted to the comb 
honey producer's needs, making it as easy to raise 
comb as extracted honey. The whole of his working 
force can be kept together thruout the honey flow 
without any desire to swarm, and every comb honey 
producer will readily understand what that means. 
Out yards can be established, and comb honey raised 
cheaper and with less labor than extracted honey is 
today with present methods. 

"As a rule give the treatment to the comb honey 
colonies at the time you put on the second super 
which should be given when the first super is about 
half to two-thirds full. This is about the time the 
bees usually make preparations to swarm. The first 
super should be given about ten days before the 
honey flow is on. When you have all the bees you 
want, give them the treatment, paying no attention 
to whether they are making preparations to swarm 
or not. In either, case they will not swarm. Give 
the treatment to all the colonies that are full of bees. 
Then on the next round notice all colonies that are 
working energetically and let them severely alone 
unless they require more super room ; and, if so, give 
it to them. You can rest assured that there are no 
swarm preparations — no need of making an exam- 
ination of the brood rest. If any colonies are found 
loafing, hanging out, or working in a listless, half- 
hearted way, and have not accomplished much in the 
supers, open the hive and/ examine the brood nest as 
swarm preparations are under way. Give them the 
second treatment at this juncture, and you will have 



'knocked swarming in the head' for the season as 
far as that colony is concerned. The comb honev 
producer can feel that he is master of the situation, 
being able to run his bees and not have his bees run 
him." 

4th. It is equally adapted to the producer of ex- 
tracted honey. While it is true that in raising extract- 
ed honey, swarming is more easily controlled if supers 
are given early and often enough so that there will be 
an abundance of room at all times and no crowding. 
Swarming can in this way be reduced to a minimum. 
But in order to carry it into effect the queen must be 
allowed to roam thru the supers at her own inclina- 
tion. When the brood chamber becomes crowded she 
establishes a brood nest in the first super and some- 
times in the second, and as the. honey season advances 
there will be preparations for swarming in spite of the 
abundance of room. It is a well known fact that a 
swarm of bees with a crowded brood nest 
will swarm even if hived in a barrel or in 
an attic, as the room outside the brood nest proper 
cuts no figure. And look at the conditions when the 
bees are managed by giving them plenty of super 
room. As soon as the queen moves to the first super 
the bees will commence plugging the old brood nest 
full of pollen as fast as the young bees hatch out and 
you have a worthless lot of pollen clogged combs on 
your hands. The brood nest will generally be found 
empty of honey, requiring the feeding of the bees to 
supply stores for winter. If an excluder is used the 
bees will fill up the brood nest with winter stores, the 
same as when raising comb honey, and are not inclined 
to store everything above. When extracting frames 
with young unsealed brood in, the extracting room is 
no place for company. By the cutting out capped 
brood plan of managing swarming you put a queen ex- 
cluder over the brood nest and confine the queen be- 
low where she belongs. 

"When your extracting colony is full to over- 



flowing with bees, open the hive and with your 
knife cut the heads off all the capped brood except 
the two frames left to make good the loss of fielders. 
As a matter of fact give them the same treatment as 
the comb, honey colony. Give second treatment if 
any colonies require it. If on your next visit you 
find the bees going in and out with a rush, pay no at- 
tention to it except to give plenty of room in the 
supers. Examine any that are found clustered out 
and taking life easy. You will find them preparing 
to swarm. Repeat the treatment and dismiss all 
thought of their swarming from your mind. No 
one would tolerate a brood nest in a second story if 
it were not that it retards swarming. Certainly a 
great improvement over present methods when the 
queen can be kept below and the supers free from 
brood and pollen, and the matter of increase under 
perfect control. 

5th. It does away with all non-swarming hives 
and devices, all self-hivers, and all swarm controllers 
that cost money. Besides these are usually unsatis- 
factory and unreliable. The treatment here outlined 
does not cost a single penny's investment to carry it 
out ; no extra capital invested to add to the cost of pro- 
duction. Ever}^ bee-keeper has or should have a smok- 
er and an uncapping knife as a part of his equipment. 
6th. There is no hunting of queens with all its vexa- 
tions. Neither is there any caging or clipping of 
queens or need for any extra attention directed toward 
her. There is no pinching of queen cells as the bees 
will attend to that better than it can be done by the 
hand of man. No stacking of brood on other colonies, 
no bumping of hives around, nor shaking of bees into 
another hive and compelling them to build a new 
brood nest during the honey flow. No interruption of 
the queen's laying right along in the old brood nest. 
All of these take up valuable time right in the busy 
season when the rush is on, and even then, after all 
such fussing, there is no assurance that the bee-keep- 



er has accomplished that which he set out to do. His 
expectations may be realized and then again they may 
not. 

7th. The ease and simplicity of the treatment 
makes it a boon to the amateur bee-keeper. The man 
with a few bees on a village lot can give treatment and 
go on about his business knowing that he has his bees 
under control. The farmer with a few stands of bees 
to furnish honey, for his own use, can give them the 
treatment at his leisure feeling confident that he will 
not be called from his work by that old familiar cry, 
"The bees are swarming." The professional with his 
outyards can raise either comb or extracted honey 
feeling sure that there will be no absconding of 
swarms during his absence. And whether he be ama- 
teur or specialist, he can care for double the number of 
colonies and can double the amount of his honey crop 
with the same amount of labor. The cost of produc- 
tion will be so cheapened that honey will not be con- 
sidered a luxury. When this plan of treatment be- 
comes generally known, the honey production of the 
world will be doubled. 

8th. The treatment will cure the swarming im- 
pulse after queen cells are built and capped over, and 
it will also prevent swarming if applied before the 
bees have made any preparations to swarm. Therein 
consists its great superiority over any and all known 
non-sw r arming methods. All other systems require to 
be carried out before the bees think of swarming. All 
plans hitherto advocated have been preventative and 
not curative measures. All authorities agree that their 
methods are not remedial methods and all admit that 
they do not know of any such method. The simple 
fact that it will cause the bees to destroy the queen 
cells after they are built and prevent their swarming 
out stamps it as being as far ahead of other methods 
as an express train is ahead of an ox team. 9th. If 
you desire to re-queen you have on hand a nice lot of 
choice queen-cells raised under the swarming impulse. 



No occasion to search for a non-swarming race of 
bees ; no necessity of trying to breed out the swarming 
instinct, for at all times you have swarm control right 
under your thumb. 

Again, what are some of the disadvantages of this 
system? Objections such as they are all of a minus 
quantity, ist. Not adapted to the man who keeps his 
bees in the "invisible brood chamber hives," better 
known in common parlance as the straw skep, the box 
hive, the log gum and the proverbial nail keg. Neither 
the bees nor the man can see what is going on within 
the hives. Yet both the bees and the man seem satis- 
fied. That kind of bee-keeper seems to keep bees for 
the exercise and excitement he gets out of it chasing 
swarms, climbing trees and hiving swarms. The heat, 
sweat and stings makes him think that swarming is 
the chief end of apiculture. Such a trifle as a honey 
yield is a minor consideration with him. 2nd. Cut- 
ting off the heads of so much sealed brood may seem 
a cruel, useless "slaughter of the innocents." Admit- 
ting, for the sake of argument, that it is, does man 
hesitate to sterilize and weed out all inferior animals 
even tho his methods involve pain and even death. All 
our methods of preparing animal food inflict cruelty 
and death upon the animal. Again, the brood behead- 
ed, if it had been left undisturbed would not have 
hatched out in time to help gather the harvest. They 
would arrive upon the scene at a time to become con- 
sumers and not producers. The unsealed brood, to- 
gether with the newly laid eggs in the empty cells 
from which the bees have removed the brood will 
hatch out in time to assist with the fall flow, if there 
should be one, and your colonies will go into winter 
quarters as strong as they would have been if the cap- 
ped brood had not been destroyed. It seems the only 
way to knock the swarming impulse out of their head. 
Taking a few frames of brood away at a time or tak- 
ing it all away at once and replacing it with empty 
combs or foundation will not cure the bees' impulse to 

8 



swarm. Cutting out of the brood will stop all swarm- 
ing. It seems to require a heroic remedy to put a 
quietus on the swarming habit. 

Instinct teaches the bee that its very existence de- 
pends upon a prolific queen and a well regulated and 
ample brood nest. As long as these conditions are 
present the colony works on in contentment, but as 
soon as the brood nest becomes crowded and there is 
no place for the queen to deposit her eggs, instinct 
teaches the bee that its existence is imperiled, and they 
become discouraged and swarm out to establish a new 
home. If the brood nest should sustain an injury in 
any way nature teaches the bee to repair it at once. 
These instincts seem to be inborn and a part of the 
very nature of the bee. It appears reasonable to me 
that uncapping the brood would have about the same 
effect upon the bee in regard to its swarming out as 
we would be affected if we had made preparations for 
a journey and some giant would come along, tear the 
roof off from over our heads, destroy our furniture, 
kill our babies and raise cain generally. Our desire 
to travel would be squelched forthwith and we would 
stay at home the same as the bees do. We might start 
in at once to repair the damage done to our home or 
we might give up in despair. Bee nature being built 
along different lines at once applies itself to the wreck 
and starts to repair the damage to its home. The dead 
are carried out, the cells are cleaned up and the queen 
has ample room to lay again. Everything in the econ- 
omy of the hive goes on as before, the bees having no 
desire to swarm until the brood nest again becomes 
crowded, when bee nature again asserts itself and they 
once more begin to make preparations to swarm. But 
the bee's thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are 
my thoughts the bee's thoughts, so if I have not inter- 
preted their actions aright you have the privilege of 
giving a better explanation. One guess is as good as 
another as long as it cannot be demonstrated to a 
mathematical certainty. Admitting that bees do freak- 



things at times, is it not a conceded fact that a colony 
oi bees under normal conditions will not make prepar- 
ations to swarm as long as the queen has ample room 
in the brood nest to deposit her egg's. And is it not 
also an established fact that when the brood nest be- 
comes congested and the queen is restricted in her 
egg-laying, that then, and not until then, does the 
swarming instinct assert itself? Examination of a 
colony prior to swarming when queen cells are under 
way shows the outside combs full of honey and pollen, 
the inside combs full of sealed brood, eggs and larva, 
with honey in top and corners of center frames, the 
sealed brood predominating in the outer frames of the 
brood nest proper, and open brood in the center, and 
nearly every cell in the hive filled with honey, pollen 
or brood and no room for the queen to lay — an ideal 
condition to cause the bees to become discontented. 
Bees thrown into an abnormal condition will often 
swarm, out ; starvation swarms, colonies infested with 
worms and with their combs a mass of web, shaken 
swarms that have been bumped and banged and shak- 
en out and compelled to establish themselves in a new 
home, thinking their condition could not be worse, in 
their discouragement swarm and light out for pastures 
new. The condition of the brood nest cuts no figure 
with them, but be it remembered that they have been 
thrown, into an abnormal condition, and the vagaries 
of bee nature under abnormal conditions is past com- 
prehension. Given all other conditions that lead to 
swarming minus a crowded brood nest and there is no 
swarming. Natural swarming, shook swarming, cag- 
ing the queen all have as their underlying principle 
and do directly or indirectly relieve the congested con- 
dition of the brood nest. The Aspinwall non-swarm- 
ing hive has as its leading feature the prevention of 
swarming by breaking up the solid brood nest. That is 
the one feature common to all methods of swarm con- 
trol. It resolves itself into what is the simplest, sur- 
est and safest method of accomplishing this end. As an 

10 



easy, sure method, the uncapping brood plan stands in 
a class by itself. 

Some of my bee-keeping" friends have requested 
that I give the steps that led up to the discovery of 
the treatment herein outlined. Being somewhat in 
doubt as to its being of sufficient interest to the read- 
er, and also thinking that it might take up more space 
than the scope of this little booklet would warrant, 
my first inpulse was to decline, but finally decided to 
give the details as briefly as possible. In order to do 
so will have to refer a little to "ancient history/' I en- 
gaged in bee-keeping on a small scale away back in 
the "seventies." Found the pursuit extremely fascin- 
ating and soon had a bad case of "bee fever" on my 
hands. My enthusiasm did not develop into a mania 
for inventing a hive as is usually the case with begin- 
ners. In 1878 one colony was worked for comb honey 
and the proceeds of that one hive netted thirty dollars. 
Kept them from swarming by pinching off the queen 
cells — a procedure which worked satisfactorily in that 
particular case. That was the beginning of a non- 
swarming mania that has possessed me ever since. 
AYished then as I have thousands of times since that 
there was some safe, sure and easy method to prevent 
swarming entirely. A combination of circumstances 
made it necessary that I dispose of my bees and active 
professional life and the want of a suitable location 
prevented me from again taking up the work for a 
quarter of a century. Since my first experience as a 
bee-keeper until the present I have seldom talked with 
a bee-keeper without winding up by asking him how 
he controlled swarming and any article published on 
the subject always received careful reading. The very 
inception or rather the beginning of the train of 
thought that led up to the present treatment was due 
to an article that appeared in the American Bee Jour- 
nal for March 1st, 1906, on page 18=; and signed, "C. 
Davenport, Southern [Minnesota." The writer stated 
that he had discovered a treatment that would abso- 

II 



lutelv prevent all swarming; that he gave a treatment 
that could be done in five minutes or less and in from 
one to fifteen days a second treatment requiring less 
than two minutes. He said that there was no hunting 
queens, no pinching of queen cells and no bumping of 
hives around ; that he had given the treatment to hun- 
dreds of colonies and that none of them had swarmed, 
but he failed to give the treatment. In the same jour- 
nal for July 1 2th, 1906, on page 602 he refuses to make 
his treatment known and gives as his reasons that it 
would make bee-keeping too easy and honey too 
cheap. Never having read an article on swarming 
that impressed me as that did, and the matter kept 
"simmering" in my mind for days and weeks. Sought 
to discover the treatment he gave his bees by a process 
of exclusion, as medical men frequently do when they 
have a complication of symptoms and are not just 
sure what ails the patient. Reasoned that the treat- 
ment he gave his colonies must be one of two kinds — 
either medical or surgical. Medical treatment was 
soon excluded as being out of the question. Then it 
must of necessity be of a surgical nature. Surgical 
treatment of the hive was impossible so the hive was 
eliminated. There then remained the queen, workers, 
drones, brood and possible queen cells to be operated 
upon. But he had stated that he did not even look for 
the queen or queen cells, so they were excluded from 
being a factor in the problem to be solved. There now 
remained the workers, the drones and the brood to be 
treated. It being a self-evident proposition that he 
could not catch all the drones or workers and operate 
upon them in five minutes, they too were excluded, 
leaving only the brood for a surgical operation of five 
minutes or less. To decide what surgical operation he 
performed on the brood was the hardest part of the 
whole proposition. Thought of cutting the brood out 
of the frames, but thought of the drone comb they 
would build if compelled to build a brood nest anew, 
and not knowing how to dispose of the brood after 

12 



cutting it out, that idea was abandoned as poor surg- 
ery. Then I thought of mutilating the brood in some 
manner and also of uncapping it. The uncapping 
scheme looked the most plausible as I had somewhere 
read that in hives where there was an excess of drone 
brood the bees would immediately remove it from the 
cells if it was uncapped. Why would they not serve 
worker brood the same way? This treatment looked 
the most plausible of any that suggested itself so I de- 
termined to try it out. The idea that the effect of the 
operation would be to relieve a crowded brood nest 
had not as }^et dawned upon my mind. In due course 
of time I found a colony building queen cells prepara- 
tory to swarming out. I determined to uncap all the 
sealed brood if it ruined the colony. In two days af- 
ter uncapping the brood I made an examination of the 
hive and found the capped queen cells torn down and 
the young queens removed and the bees made no fur- 
ther preparations to swarm that season. Candor com- 
pels me to say that they did not do anything else to 
boast of. Too much dwindling and not enough re- 
cruits to reinforce the workers. They built up in 
good shape and were strong in numbers for the fall 
flow. Did not try any further experiments on an} 7 - of 
the colonies during 1906. When 1907 season was on 
I operated upon two colonies leaving some of the 
sealed brood to reinforce the workers. Again in 1908 
tried the treatment upon a few colonies successfully, 
concluding before the season was over that two solid 
frames of brood in each hive was sufficient to make 
good the losses of the field bees. Xot having enough 
bees at any time to give the treatment a thorough test, 
it was deferred until the past season (1909) to try it 
out. Will digress enough to state that my confidence 
in this treatment was further strengthened by an arti- 
cle written by F. Cloverdale of Maquoketa, Iowa, 
which appeared in the June number of the "Bee-keep- 
er's Review." 1907. It was entitled "Controlling In- 
crease By Cutting Out the Brood." He stated that: 

13 



"Any plan that rids the hive of all brood, kills 
all swarming just as effectually as if natural swarm- 
ing had taken place. His plan consists in cutting 
out and removing all the brood, leaving the honey 
parts in the frames. Setting the brood in a 
box with a screen cone on one side and moved up 
close to the entrance of the old hive, the young bees 
hatched out constantly and reinforced the old hive. 
The cut out combs had to be spaced in the box so as 
not to touch each other and enough bees run in to 
clean up the drippings and furnish heat for the 
brood. And this plan required further that enough 
honey be cut out with the brood to last until all the 
bees were hatched — the empty brood combs in the 
hatching box being finally melted up into wax." 
The queer part of it is that Mr. Cloverdale stum- 
bled right over one of the most important discoveries 
of the last half century but failed to recognize its pos- 
sibilities. Further along in his article he makes this 
statement: 

"To manipulate colonies so as not to swarm at 
all when run for comb honey is a thing yet to be dis- 
covered. " 

It read to me like another case of history repeat- 
ing itself. While it is true that Langstroth was not 
really the inventor of the movable frame hive, he was 
the inventor of the first practical movable frame hive, 
a hive that was of real use to the world. To Huber, 
the Swiss, belongs the credit of inventing the first 
movable frame, but his invention was impracticable 
and not adapted to bee-keeping on a commercial scale. 
Returning again to the season of 1909, having set- 
tled upon a routine of treatment to be carried out, will 
state that I began the season with fifty-four colonies 
in ten-frame dove-tailed hives with Hoffman frames. 
Ten colonies were Italians and the rest were hybrids — 
the apiary being located upon the back part of two vil- 
lage lots. Owing to a cold late spring they built up 
slowly in the early part of the season. The weather be- 

14 



ing more favorable from May 15th to June 15th, they 
built up rapidly and were in good condition for the 
honey flow from white clover that began about that 
time and was at its best from June 20th to July 5th, 
when a severe drouth began to make itself felt. Seven- 
teen colonies were worked for comb honey and the re- 
maining thirty-seven for extracted. From June 26th 
to July 1 2th the sw T arming season was on in earnest, 
the most of them preparing to swarm out within ten 
days after June 26th. Of the seventeen colonies 
worked for comb honey, twelve of them built queen 
cells and w T ere given the treatment, one of them being 
operated upon after it had started to swarm out, an 
account of whicn will be given later. Getting behind 
with my work two colonies were given the treatment 
before making swarm preparations as they were very 
populous and the treatment was given as a preventa- 
tive. Only one comb honey colony made swarming 
preparations after the treatment was given.. That col- 
ony had a poor lot of brood combs, quite a large per- 
centage of drone comb, and some of the remaining 
combs badly clogged with old pollen which the bees 
were trying to chew up and carry out. They seemed 
to be hampered for room to establish a normal sized 
brood nest. It was given the second treatment nine 
days after the first one. None of the fourteen colonies 
treated made any further preparations to swarm but 
worked on w r ith untiring energy giving a good account 
of themselves as honey gatherers. Three of the comb 
honey hives made no attempt at swarming. They were 
weak colonies that were late in building up and were 
of the number I had intended to run for extracted 
honey but had been forced to give them supers with 
sections owing to a delayed order for supplies. They 
built up to the swarming point and made each about 
a super full of honey and would have needed a treat- 
ment soon only the drouth set in and cut short the 
flow of honey to such an extent that there were no more 
swarm preparations by any of the colonies in the apiary. 

15 



In applying the treatment to the comb honey colonies 
my aim was to let them build cells and get as near to 
the swarming out point as possible without actually 
swarming. The same method was applied to extract- 
ing colonies but more of that later. Opening the hives 
and examining fromes for queen cells made work and 
plenty of it, too, and if the method had to be carried 
out along such lines it would have but little to com- 
mend it. I did not wish to leave a single loop hole for 
some doubting Thomas to jump up and say that per- 
haps my bees wouldn't have swarmed if I had left 
them alone, so in testing the plan for publication I 
proposed to know just how many were preparing to 
swarm and their condition at all times, and also to 
know the effect of the treatment given. If it was or 
was not a cure for swarming I wanted to know the 
facts. In order to show the severe test it was put to 
I will now give a brief outline of colony No. 36, with 
a pure Italian queen one year old. Records show that 
it was examined June 23 and no queen cells found, 
strong in bees and brood and working in the comb 
honey super. Owing to press of work I could not ex- 
amine them again June 30th. July 1st I noticed 
that they were clustering out and not working as they 
should. The next day, July 2nd, as I was working 
near them with a smoker in working order, I was dis- 
mayed to see the bees suddenly rush pell mell out of 
the hive just as I was on the point of examining them. 
Tried smoking them to stop their rush but they kept 
coming right out thru the smoke. Finally as a last 
resort I grabbed up a small piece of board lying near 
and closed the entrance with it, all but about two 
inches at one end. Into this small entrance I blew 
clouds of smoke until I had them partially quieted and 
then I stopped it up with grass. Went next to the 
bee house and procured a piece of perforated zinc. Af- 
ter adjusting it I stepped back to await results. The 
bees swarmed out at once and after circling around for 
several minutes without clustering, they finally began 

16 



going back into the hive. I knew then that I had suc- 
ceeded in imprisoning the queen, but was afraid to 
open the hive for fear they would swarm out. So de- 
cided to wait until the next morning to look them 
over. This happened about 8:00 a. m., and about 
11:00 a. m. they came out again, circled around and 
once more returned to the hive. At about 3 p. m. the 
performance was again repeated. Early on the morn- 
ing of July 3rd I opened the hive and counted fourteen 
queen cells in various stages of development, three of 
them being capped over. Slashed off all the heads of 
the capped brood found in six frames, leaving two 
frames of nearly solid capped brood. Took especial 
care not to disturb any of the queen cells, and then 
closed up the hive wondering what they would do. 
AYas in the apiary all of that day but they did not once 
offer to swarm out, but worked for dear life dragging 
out dead brood. Opened the hive again July 4th and 
found the capped queen cells torn open and the young 
queens removed. That colony made no further at- 
tempt to swarm and gave me nearly one hundred 
pounds of nice comb honey despite the drouth that 
came on soon after. Certainly no severer test of any 
non-sw^arming system could be made. 

I will also give a condensed statement as to how 
the extracting colonies were managed. Having six 
queen excluders, they were placed over six of the larg- 
est colonies at the time they were given their first 
super. They all made preparations to swarm. They 
were given the treatment and no further attempts at 
swarming were made. Procured a dozen more exclud- 
ers later and used them where the queen was found 
below, selecting populous colonies when possible. Not 
all of them built cells, due to the lateness of their use, 
perhaps. Besides the six colonies mentioned above 
there were nine other colonies devoted to extracting 
that built queen cells and were given the treatment, 
and only one made preparations to swarm again and 
had to be given a second treatment. Only two out of 

17 



twenty-nine colonies thus far operated upon required 
the second treatment. I will now account for the 
other twenty-two extracting colonies, for the reader 
may have gotten the impression by this time that I 
had no swarming, which would be erroneous. Will 
digress long enough to state that thirty extracting 
supers ordered thru a local dealer failed to materialize 
until a month too late for the rush, and the extracting 
colonies were crowded for room, which accounts in a 
measure for the large percentage of swarm prepara- 
tion. Office duties, wiring of frames, and putting in of 
foundation consumed so much time that the colonies 
could not all be examined every seven days as had 
been originally intended and as a result three colonies 
that had not received treatment threw off swarms and 
were managed as follows. The first swarm that issued 
was hived on frames containing starters and placed 
upon the old stand. The old hive with super on was 
moved to one side as I intended to give the new swarm 
the old super as soon as they had drawn out sufficient 
comb to establish a brood nest. The weather being ex- 
cessively hot and the bees being unable to break their 
cluster, became dissatisfied and deserted their hive the 
next day and settled on a low branch of an apple tree. 
Before they could be hived a swarm issued from an- 
other hive and settled with it on the same branch. 
Hived both swarms in the hive with the starters, cap- 
turing one queen as they were running in, and set the 
hive back on its original stand. Opened the old hive 
from w T hich the first swarm issued and uncapped all 
brood but two frames and was very careful not to dis- 
turb any capped queen cells. After operation, placed 
old Hive over new double swarm with a queen ex- 
cluder between, putting the super on top, making a 
three story hive. Result, queen cells destroyed and no 
further attempt at swarming out. The hive from 
which the second swarm issued had all queen cells de- 
stroyed but one on the seventh day and no swarm is- 
sued from that hime. 

18 



The next day another swarm issued from a colony 
that had not been treated. Hived it on frames with 
full sheets of foundation setting the old hive to one 
side and placing new hive o nold stand. At once gave 
old colony treatment and placed it on new hive with 
excluder between and extracting super on top — the 
same procedure as before. It destroyed the queen 
cells and made no further attempt at swarming. The 
plan was a success in the two cases mentioned 
and is worthy a trial when no increase is desired. The 
method outlined prevented all increase in the number 
of colonies. There were fifty-four colonies spring 
count and fifty-four when the swarming season was 
over. The remaining nineteen colonies which were run 
to extracting made no attempt at swarming, but three 
of the stronger colonies w r ere given the treatment, as 
a preventative as they were becoming populous and I 
w r as getting somewhat tired of making such frequent 
examinations. The three made no preparations to 
swarm. The sixteen remaining colonies that did not 
arrive at the swarming point were colonies that were 
weak in the spring and were slow in building up and 
by giving them super room the swarming impulse was 
retarded. A summary of the season's work would be 
as follows : 

Of the seventeen colonies run for comb honey: 
ii were given the treatment after queen cells were 
built. 

2 were given the treatment as a preventative of 
swarming. 

i was given the treatment after swarming out had 
commenced. 

3 made no preparations to swarm. 

Of the thirty-seven colonies run for extracted 
honey: 

15 were given the treatment after queen cells were 
built. 

3 were given the treatment as a preventative 
measure. 

19 



2 wore given the treatment after swarming and 

before uniting. 

i had all queen cells but one pinched off on 
seventh day. 

[6 made no preparations to swarm. 

One comb honey colony and one extracting col- 
ony made preparations to swarm the second time and 
were given the second treatment. 

In no single instance did a colony swarm out that 
had received the treatment. Neither did any of the 
few colonies that were treated during 1906, 1907, 1908 
swarm. 

Whether the method of swarm control here de- 
scribed is really the C. Davenport secret or not will 
never be known unless perchance some of his neigh- 
bors have knowledge of it for in the article of March 
1st, 1906, referred to, he speaks of operating upon his 
neighbors' bees free of cost in order to test the treat- 
ment. If it is not his treatment, it at least fulfills 
every indication claimed for his method. ' The Bee 
Journals for July, 1908, announced that C. Davenport, 
whose real name was C. Davenport Monette, met an 
untimely death one night in June when his house 
burned down and that he was a resident of Chatfield, 
Minn. For the information of the reader will say that 
Chatfield is a town fifteen miles north of here. 

Xow, as to whether uncapping a less amount of 
the sealed brood would prevent all swarming or not, 
is a problem that I have not as yet tested out. Perhaps 
if one-third or even one-half of the sealed brood was 
allowed to remain, the over-crowded condition of the 
brood nest might be relieved sufficiently to cause the 
bees to abandon swarm preparations. My experiments 
ranged between leaving two frames of sealed brood 
and uncapping all there was in the hive. If a less 
amount of uncapping would "knock swarming in the 
head" it would be an advantage to the timid bee-keep- 
er who might have some compunction of conscience 

20 



about destroying so much sealed brood. Personally I 
do not consider the matter of material importance as 
the plan outlined gives all the workers needed for the 
clover and basswood flow in our northern climate, and 
the open brood left undisturbed, together with the 
newly laid eggs that have been deposited in the cells 
from which the uncapped brood has been removed, 
gives an army of workers for the late fall flow, with- 
out having a hive full of consumers right after the 
first honey flow is over. The plan can be adapted to 
southern conditions where the swarming season be- 
gins a month or so earlier than the main honey flow. 
Can see no reason why the plan cannot be adapted to 
any locality where bees are kept. It is bound to revo- 
lutionize bee-keeping all over the world or I am woe- 
fully mistaken in my judgment. 

It is perhaps hardly necessary to caution the read- 
er not to use this method if his apiary is infected with 
foul brood, owing to the danger of carrying the disease 
from infected to healthy colonies. 

And now, brother and sister bee-keepers, allow me 
to state in conclusion that I have outlined a simple 
plan of swarm control that the bee-keeping world 
knows nothing about so far as I am aware. And I of- 
fer it to you for your approval or condemnation. At 
a rough guess I expect nine out of ten of you to read 
the statements herein made with a good deal of sus- 
picion, furthermore I expect all of you to accept them 
with a "grain of salt." All I ask of you is that you give 
the plan a fair trial for I know that you will be sur- 
prised at the results. The treatment being so simple 
and easy and the results so surprising it was a difficult 
matter for me to believe it myself even after having 
proof right before my eyes. After you have given it a 
trial I feel sure that you will not consider my statements 
extravagant and when the full extent of its possibili- 
ties are realized the bee-keeping world will render 
their verdict in accordance with the claims I have 
made for the treatment. 

21 



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